IAN Bell has seen and done plenty during seven years in which he has played 69 Tests and 108 ODIs for England, but right now he is facing up to a first: Two months off.

Bell’s elevation to Test cricket coincided exactly with the growing obsession of the sport’s governing bodies to force international matches into every corner of the calendar. Last month’s pointless one-day series in India, for example.

The Warwickshire batsman is not complaining in the slightest. He loves what he does for a living. But as England prepare for a hectic two-year period, in which they face the challenge of cementing their status as world No.1 team – starting with Pakistan in Dubai in the New Year – a bit of recharging won’t do any harm at all.

Not that Bell intends to have his feet up much.

“I can’t remember the last time we had two months off solidly like this,” he said. “I hope to take in a bit of live sport. Hopefully, I’ll get to Villa’s game against Manchester United.

“In the first few weeks I’ll get away from cricket and not pick up a bat. But it is a great opportunity to do some physical work. In international cricket there is so much travelling and so many games it is very hard to plan a two or three-week programme. Now I can do that and put down a core-base of fitness.

“I want to train as hard as possible because we are at the start of two years which will be pretty jam-packed. We have shown we can beat the best teams at home in our own conditions so the next level is can we beat Pakistan in Dubai and then go to Sri Lanka and win out there?

“To stay No.1 we have to win in all conditions. We will have to play very good cricket.

“There are some big challenges ahead and that is the beauty of cricket. There is always another goal to achieve. The day we feel satisfied with what we have achieved, not that Andy Flower would ever allow that to happen, is the day we get knocked off the perch.

“The importance of improving again is huge. If we can start winning away from home on places like the subcontinent then people will say this is one of the best England teams there has been.”

Bell has not played Test cricket in Dubai though he popped out there the other week to see former Bears star Kumar Sangakkarra as Sri Lanka faced Pakistan.

“It will be a very tough series,” he said. “Any time you play Pakistan you know they are going to have bundles of talent with bat and ball. Some days they will be fantastic, some days they will not, but they will have taken a lot of confidence from their series against Sri Lanka.

“If you look at their history, they have provided some of the best cricketers the world has ever seen. They have the ability to beat anyone in the world on their day so we will have to be at our best.”

At least Bell, a linchpin of the Test team, can expect to be at the heart of the action unlike last month in India where he found himself mostly on the outside looking in as England were trounced in an ODI series.

“It was frustrating but I guess in one-day cricket at the moment I am right on the edge,” he said. “They know I want to bat in the top three or four and I guess I am the next one in and have got to keep fighting for a place in there.

“I don’t see myself as a five or six so there are four places there and I am going to work hard to get into that. I believe if I play to my best I can get in the team but I have to scrap hard.

“There is a lot of cricket coming up and though you would never wish injury or lack of form on anybody, these things happen and if I get that opportunity, I have got to take it.”